Unbelievable. Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who's currently the Atty. Gen. of the state of New York, said during an interview yesterday: "It's not a TV crazed race. Frankly you can't buy your way into it. You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."

Though he says he used the term "shuck and jive" as a synonym for "bob and weave," that's pretty much a textbook case of bullshit. "Shuck and jive" has a very specific history, and it ain't a boxing metaphor:

"To shuck and jive" originally referred to the intentionally misleading words and actions that African-Americans would employ in order to deceive racist Euro-Americans in power, both during the period of slavery and afterwards. The expression was documented as being in wide usage in the 1920s, but may have originated much earlier.

"Shucking and jiving" was a tactic of both survival and resistance. A slave, for instance, could say eagerly, "Oh, yes, Master," and have no real intention to obey. Or an African-American man could pretend to be working hard at a task he was ordered to do, but might put up this pretense only when under observation. Both would be instances of "doin' the old shuck 'n jive."

Cuomo says he wasn't even referring to Obama specifically, and that he said complimentary things about Obama, so that makes it okay. Or something.

Honestly. With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?

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NY Attorney General: "You Can't Shuck and Jive at a Press Conference"

Unbelievable. Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who's currently the Atty. Gen. of the state of New York, said during an interview yesterday: "It's not a TV crazed race. Frankly you can't buy your way into it. You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."

Though he says he used the term "shuck and jive" as a synonym for "bob and weave," that's pretty much a textbook case of bullshit. "Shuck and jive" has a very specific history, and it ain't a boxing metaphor:

"To shuck and jive" originally referred to the intentionally misleading words and actions that African-Americans would employ in order to deceive racist Euro-Americans in power, both during the period of slavery and afterwards. The expression was documented as being in wide usage in the 1920s, but may have originated much earlier.

"Shucking and jiving" was a tactic of both survival and resistance. A slave, for instance, could say eagerly, "Oh, yes, Master," and have no real intention to obey. Or an African-American man could pretend to be working hard at a task he was ordered to do, but might put up this pretense only when under observation. Both would be instances of "doin' the old shuck 'n jive."

Cuomo says he wasn't even referring to Obama specifically, and that he said complimentary things about Obama, so that makes it okay. Or something.

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